Tuesday, November 18, 2008

I was on my way to Florida when I learned that my Aunt Ingela* passed away from Leukemia. After retiring from the corporate world, Ingela pursued her passion and founded Rawhide Rescue - a non-profit which finds homes for dogs in need. There's a nice video online which shows Ingela doing what she loved so much -- helping dogs. And I think it's a really sweet tribute to Ingela herself.

* Technically Ingela wasn't my aunt. She was the wife of my mom's cousin, Alan. However, Alan was like a little brother to my mother and lived for many years with my mom's family. Besides, I grew up feeling as if Ingela was my aunt. She had an warm smile and a way of making everyone feel like family.

Friday, November 07, 2008

I have 216 friends. On facebook, that is. In real life...hmm, well, I'm kinda scratching my head and wondering where all my real-life flesh-and-blood friends went. Lately, I can barely get people to respond to e-mail. Everybody's BUSY with their families, their jobs, their busy, complicated, over-extended lives. Everyone's apologizing for why they can't get together and making promises about future engagements we MUST plan -- and secretly know we never will.

Part of the problem is that many of my friends (high school and college chums) just don't live nearby. So it takes time and monumental effort to synchronize our various schedules. Another problem is that so many of us work from home or are home caring for young children. How do we make friends when we often find ourselves isolated and alone? Besides which, you have to work at friendships in order to maintain them, and most of us are already stretched thin. It's almost as if we've become a nation too busy for deep, meaningful, close friendships. And I have a feeling that's why a lot of us are looking for the virtual thing online. If only we'd put down our iPhones and Blackberries long enough, we might realize that there are fascinating people to converse with right across the table from us.

I've been thinking about friendship a lot lately, thanks not only to facebook, but to the documentary film I worked on for three years as an Associate Producer. The BlueBelles is an amazing group of women who met at the YMCA 20 years ago and have been able to forge a deep, and long-lasting friendship. What's their secret? It's simple. They make time for one another. Plus, every Friday they meet for breakfast at a local bagel shop so their members always know where and when to find one another.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I am still around. Mostly I'm hanging out over on Facebook with all of my new "friends." I have bit of a Facebook addiction right now.

What's not to like? It's easy to find people. It's easy to update. It's easy to reach out and network.

Blogging takes time and energy I just don't have right now. If you were following me on Facebook you'd know that I just had a successful screening with The BlueBelles documentary (and getting some nice press on that one) and am currently preparing for a private NYC screening of Wit's End.

I'm close to signing a development deal for another TV pilot I wrote (this one for the web) and am in the early stages of developing a Reality TV show tentatively called Reality Sucks.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Yeah, I know I should be working, but Jib Jab sent me the new High School Musical animation slash advertisement and I couldn't miss the opportunity to dance and sing with Zach Efron, could I? The fact that I'm old enough to be his mom is only slightly creepier than the size of our heads in the video below.

Monday, September 15, 2008

I didn't watch SNL this past weekend, but I did see the Sarah Palin/Hilary Clinton sketch. How freaking hilarious. If you haven't seen it, watch it below. Palin is sooo easy to mock...she seems more like an SNL creation than an actual politician (mother/moose hunter/maverick).

By the way, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are so fabulous together. I'd watch them in just about anything. Also, wouldn't it be great if Jack Donaghy started dating Governor Palin (played by Tina Fey, of course) on 30 Rock this year?

Thursday, September 11, 2008

I know the new Fall TV Season is just starting in dribs and drabs-- but I have to say that I'm already bored. My favorite shows at the moment are Mad Men and John and Kate Plus 8. I'm not terribly excited about any of the new shows on the schedule (I'll check out the much-hyped Fringe, of course). And other than 30 Rock (and Lost which is months away) there are no returning shows that I'm dying to see. There are very few shows that I'll watch on a regular basis or even bother to even DVR.

Is it just me or does this seem like the lamest -- least hyped -- fall season of all time? Makes me nostalgically miss those cheesy network promos from yesteryear. Watch below and remember how easy it used to be to entertain the masses.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

I was away in North Carolina for my brother's wedding last week when I received the news that our sitcom, Wit's End, was rejected by the New York TV Festival. I'll admit that I was pretty shocked because I thought we had a really good chance of making it into the fest even though they only select 36 pilots to showcase. And I had hoped that we could have our NYC premiere at the festival.

Yeah, rejection sucks. Still, I've been doing this too long to let another rejection get me down. If I took it personally I would have quit this biz years ago and gotten a nice safe job in some safe office. So we're moving forward on our own and will be hosting our first public screening in October in the comedy club where many of our comics have performed.

If you're interested in seeing who did make the festival, go here. BTW:Why does it seem like the NYTVF judges love 1)workplace mockumentaries that rip off The Office and 2)Male Buddy sitcoms???

FYI; last year I worked the Pushing Daisies red carpet and you can actually catch a quick glimpse of my back in this video (see photo above). Needless to say, I'll be bitterly skipping this year's festivities.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

After months of editing our pilot, Wit's End, we were able to make the deadline for the New York TV festival with about three days to spare. We originally wanted to get the pilot in a month earlier than the deadline but hit unexpected setbacks. As per usual in this business, everything takes longer than you think it's going to take. So always build in extra time.

I'm quite relieved to have the editing almost completely done (we still need a couple of sound and other tweaks to do). I pretty much immersed myself in editing and during the final weeks worked almost non-stop (sometimes from 8 AM until 2 AM) trying to get everything done. My kids really weren't happy at all during this time. And I ordered out so many meals and had so little time to get exercise that I put on at least 10 pounds.

So besides trying to lose weight and spend quality summer vacation time with my family, I'll be spending the rest of the summer concentrating on Wit's End's marketing materials and waiting to hear if we made it into the festival (they say we'll find out by early August). So keep your fingers crossed.